Powerline Collision Monitoring on Kauai

Project Goal
Archipelago Research and Conservation (ARC) monitors seabird collisions with electric transmission lines as part of their Infrastructure Monitoring and Minimization Project (funded by the Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative). Two threatened seabird species have been observed colliding with electrical transmission lines – Newell’s Shearwater (Puffinus newelli) and Hawaiian Petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis) – while traveling from sea level to high elevation breeding sites at night, and field observers noted a distinctive sound generated when seabirds collided with the lines.

Conservation Metrics
Collaborated on the design and implementation of an automated acoustic survey strategy that has allowed ARC to greatly expand the spatial and temporal survey effort for these exceptionally rare collision events. Over a decade of robust monitoring data is now informing collision risk modelling and helping guide alterations of the island’s power infrastructure to reduce impacts to these threatened species.